Lampard can brutally axe £22m “walking red card” in Everton swoop for “unique” talent – opinion

Frank Lampard must bring in some new faces that will immediately improve his Everton side or his tenure in Merseyside might be shorter-lived than many thought when he took over from Rafa Benitez in January.

The Goodison faithful will surely not tolerate another season like last year, where the club avoided Premier League relegation by the skin of their teeth on the penultimate fixture of the campaign.

Lampard will be keen to strengthen his squad and has already made a fast start, securing a deal for defender James Tarkowski who will join the club when his Burnley contract expires. The 44-year-old has eyes on other targets too, such as Chelsea trio Armando Broja, Conor Gallagher, and Levi Colwill.

With the club linked with plenty of potential incomings, there will be a need for Lampard to move on some deadwood and free up the wage budget and generate much-needed funds. One player that should be on his way out of Goodison is Andre Gomes.

The club signed the player from Barcelona in 2019 for £22m and he has been underwhelming, to say the least, with Greg O’Keeffe even describing him as a “walking red card” following a poor performance last season.

Gomes averaged a dreadful WhoScored rating of 6.17 last season and was ranked a lowly 25th in the Everton squad. Lampard could find the perfect replacement in a move for Manchester City player Oleksandr Zinchenko, who the club have been linked with.

Although he plays at left-back in Manchester, the Ukrainian international excels for his country in a midfield role and Lampard could give him this opportunity as he seeks a move away from City.

The 25-year-old has been described as “unique” by journalist Mark Critchley and had an average rating of 7.07 on SofaScore for his